In spite of the numerous chemical, genetic, and mechanical improvements made to farming in the past 50 years, farming is still a very labor-intensive activity. To increase the scale and productivity of agriculture, farmers generally have resorted to the use of larger machines, larger plots, increased use of genetically modified seeds, higher use of chemicals, and larger numbers of low-wage workers. These approaches create the need for increased capital to purchase and maintain larger and more complex machines, present environmental issues, and often present labor problems.